


I Trusted You

by CastielFollowMe



Series: Single Dad Shiro Verse [66]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Anxiety, Gen, Guns, Hurt/Comfort, Praxas is an ass, Protective shiro, Shooting Range, Stress Relief, Tears, Uncle Galras!, worried shiro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 08:53:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9648770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CastielFollowMe/pseuds/CastielFollowMe
Summary: Shiro never wanted to take Keith and Lance to a shooting range, but his friends had a point. This was a part of Shiro and Keith needed to learn it was safe. He never expected anyone to betray him in his safe place.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Your Dad Shiro pulling out the full name fic gave me a wild idea oh my voltron. It would be the best thing ever if Shiro had a gun (maybe not military style, just like a glock that he keeps for protection and practices at a range so he doesn't get rusty). Usually he unloads this gun and puts on the safety and hides it away because lil keith is adventurous obviously. One day maybe Lance and Keith find it while shiro is busy cooking lunch and lance is like "it'll be fine we okay with space gun all the time!“ and keith KNOWS from the previous time that he isn’t supposed to touch daddy’s stuff but this gun isn’t hidden in a box it’s just high on a shelf or dresser so they climb and get it and take it outside to play and keith plays with it first and lance gives him an “alien” (a cardboard box) to shoot. Keith takes off the safety thinking it’s like “loading” the gun and shiro didn’t unload it so when he fires it actually shoots and knocks him backwards and wow I can’t even imagine how shiro would feel knowing the kids were outside and hears a shot and sprints out to see keith sprawled on the ground with a gun by him. lance is freaking out that it actually fired like shiro’d probably think keith accidentally shot himself Poor dad. Keith is fine though just extremely surprised and he starts bawling when he sees how scared his dad is and shiro holds him but “KEITH AKIRA SHIROGANE THE FIRST YOU’RE GROUNDED UNTIL YOURE 50 never scare me like that again."

“Shiro, you’re gonna have to let him go someday. If this is a part of your life, it’s bound to be a part of his life. Besides, it’s not like you can hide this from him; he’s already figured it out.”

              “I know. I know. But don’t you think he’s still too young? I mean, he’s only ten! I don’t think it’s safe for him to be with us while we do this.”

              “Relax Shiro, it’s safe here. _Everyone_ is safe here and you should know that. None of us would ever try to harm Keith.”

              “I know Ulaz, I know. I’m just a little scared for his safety.” Shiro finally sighed, relenting to his longtime friend from his old platoon in the military. Ulaz was one of Shiro’s closest friends, after their time spent together in active duty. On most days, Shiro was closer with Ulaz than some of the friends he had known since childhood, which only signified their bond of brotherhood. Ulaz was always the voice of reason for Shiro, in and out of the army. He knew what would help Shiro and what would only make matters worse.

              “Keith is perfectly safe here. He’s got multiple _trained_ sets of eyes watching him and Lance _and_ I know for a fact that you’ve spent entire days teaching Keith about the safety of guns and how to treat them respectfully. That boy can probably recite a line from you about gun safety if you asked him.” Ulaz pointed out, while Shiro sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.

              That _was_ true.

              Shiro and Keith had long sat down with a pile of books and eventually one of Shiro’s handguns, after the incident where Keith had found Shiro’s old box of military memorabilia’s. Shiro had explained Keith the nature of guns, their power and their danger when put into the wrong hands. He’d explained how to properly hold, load and fire a gun (without Keith having to actually touch the gun; not yet), along with every safety measure in and _not in_ the book about guns. Sufficient to say, Keith was quite knowledgeable about gun safety after speaking with his dad, but that still didn’t mean that Shiro was all that comfortable with Keith around guns.

              That didn’t mean he wanted to take Keith to the _shooting range._

              But somehow Ulaz, Kolivan, Antok and even _Praxas_ had managed to persuade Shiro into letting Keith tag along. _It would do the boy good to get some experience at seeing gun safety in action; maybe it’ll stick._

              Even Thace seemed to agree that taking Keith with him to the shooting range would be beneficial to the boy in the long run. Although, Thace reminded his son that there was no pressure in actually letting Keith shoot. Just because Keith was tagging along didn’t mean that Shiro had to put a gun in _Keith’s_ hand.

              No way, not his precious grandbaby.

              “We promise no harm shall come to the little one.” Antok gruffly said from behind the face mask, which covered much of his face due to scarring from his time at war. Shiro looked up to see his expressing of worry reflecting off Antok’s aviator glasses and he sighed. Antok was a gruff man, but loyal to his comrades and brothers. He was wary of accepting Shiro even after his friendship with Ulaz, but after Shiro’s heroics towards the end of his service, Antok had come to see Shiro with a new perspective. Shiro was someone that Antok greatly admired; even more so after adopting Keith. His gruff, Egyptian accent was heavy even after all these years, and yet it had an instant calming effect on Shiro.

              “Alright, alright. I suppose a couple of hours couldn’t hurt.” Shiro sighed and glanced over to where Keith and Lance were both being given ear muffs and earplugs along with protective goggles from Kolivan.

              Keith hadn’t exactly been thrilled at coming, while Lance had been ecstatic. His brothers and sisters had all gone shooting with their mother or father at some point, and Lance was _finally_ old enough to go now. Keith hadn’t cared much for guns or shooting ranges, but this was something that his daddy enjoyed and did to keep them safe and reduce anxiety, so Keith would be happy to see it in person. He wanted to know where his daddy always went to shoot, but he was happy enough to not touch a single gun.

              “Daddy, these earplugs hurt.” Keith frowned, taking on the ear muffs and walking over to his dad. Lance chatted excitedly to an amused Kolivan while Praxas lingered behind them. Shiro chuckled when Keith presented the earplugs and ear muffs to Shiro.

              He knew that Keith would have a hard time with the earplugs and he was sure that Keith wouldn’t like the loud noises all that much. He was a bit worried that Keith would get too scared of all the noise and they would have to leave suddenly, but he had planned to stay much shorted than usual. Thankfully his friends understood.

              At least, _most_ of them understood.

              “I know buddy, but you gotta keep them in. It’s gonna get real loud here soon and I don’t want your ears hurting.” Shiro said gently before putting the earplugs back in Keith’s ears and putting the ear muffs on. Once he secured Keith’s safety glasses back on, Lance had bounded over excitedly. Keith pouted but thankfully made no move to remove his earplugs.”

              “Alright you two listen up.” Shiro clapped his hands together, causing Keith and Lance to both straighten up into impressive stances of obedience. Shiro snickered and saw his friends were highly amused by the two children. “I, Kolivan, Antok, Ulaz or Praxas are in charge. You listen to _whatever_ we say, because we only have your safety in mind. This place isn’t for games and goofing around; it’s very dangerous and you need to take this serious. Understand?”

              “Yes sir!” Keith and Lance both nodded firmly before Lance was once again bouncing on his feet. Noticing that the boy had more energy than any of them, Kolivan took pity on everyone else and took Lance with him and Antok to load up their station. Keith had instantly wrapped his little hand into Shiro’s, smiling when he caught sight of his matching little gloves and his dads. They had been a present to Keith for his last birthday and Keith wore them every single day since then.

              “What are you going to be doing?” Keith asked, wincing when they finally entered the indoor shooting range and he could hear several other guns firing off. He shuffled closer to his father, who kept a tight but comforting grip on Keith’s shoulder, at every loud bang. Luckily, the earplugs made the sounds much softer than they actually were and for that Keith decided to keep them on.

              “Well, usually the guys and I do some target practice.” Shiro shrugged, nodding to the owner of the range. He led Keith and the others to their usual stations where their glocks were already waiting for them. Lance was already watching Kolivan intently as he loaded up his gun, all the while explains how to safely do it. Kolivan was rather impressed as Lance’s explanation especially when he sheepishly admitted his oldest sister was the one who taught him.

              Antok nodded to Shiro and Ulaz while Praxas began setting up his own station.

              “See that target down there, with the lines and numbers.” Shiro pointed down the end of the shooting range. Keith squinted and stood up on a stool to see over the block and his eyes widened. He could see the target but it was _very, very_ far away. _Was his daddy able to hit something that far?_

“You mean that tiny little one, all the way back there?” Keith gaped and Shiro chuckled before ruffling Keith’s hair. He carefully set Keith aside at a safe distance, knowing Keith wouldn’t move unless asked to, and began to load up his own gun.

              “Well it’s not really that small, it’s pretty big actually but it’s really far away.” Shiro smiled softly. “We aim and try to hit that target, to keep up with ourselves and to not get rusty. We try to hit at the center hole in the target.”

              “What?!” Keith gaped and even Lance’s jaw dropped in shock.

              “It’s true and your daddy has the best eye out of all of us. He could probably hit that center target with his eyes closed.” Ulaz chuckled, watching as Keith’s eyes shone brighter and brighter with awe for his dad. Ulaz found himself falling more and more in love with the little boy known as Keith, and Shiro’s decision to have adopted him all those years ago, was his best one ever. Shiro deserved all the love, support and childish admiration in the world and Ulaz was just happy that someone could love Shiro as much as Shiro loved them,

              “Really?!”

              “It’s true young one. Your father had a keen eye back in our military days and never failed to miss his target. You’ll be most impressed today.” Antok added gently and Keith smiled shyly at the much larger man. Shiro felt himself blushing at the praise before rolling his eyes.

              “Alright, alright. Are we here to blab about my shooting skills or are we here to practice?” Shiro sighed, unable to hide his smile as his voice took on a familiar commanding tone. His friends all chuckled around him but soon enough everyone settled in their respective stations and the first shots were fired.

              _Bang!_

x.V.x

              “I’m going to be an even better shot than daddy Shiro!” Lance exclaimed excitedly from where he stood beside Keith and Praxas. “One day, they’re gonna call me the Sharpshooter so get used to it!”

              “Nobody can beat daddy.” Keith rolled his eyes, ignoring Lance when he stuck his tongue out at Keith. Keith had been blown away by his daddy’s skill, and after his daddy had brought the target back with _one_ whole in the dead center for six bullets, Keith had forgotten his fear of loud noises. He had watched his daddy in awe as he _smoked_ the competition, beating Praxas and Kolivan and Ulaz and even Antok. He was content to watch his daddy as he slowly relaxed and began to explain to Keith what he was doing, before Keith and Lance grew bored.

              They were still children after all and weren’t allowed to shoot themselves (by orders of Shiro, Kolivan, Ulaz _and_ a silent Antok), so it was only natural that their facst-paced minds were grow weary of standing around for too long. Shiro had noticed the boys’ looks of boredoms and were ready to call it a day, even without having done his full sets of practice.

              However, Praxas had been the one to swoop in and offer to buy the boys lunch while Shiro and the others finished up. Shiro was reluctant, and admittedly he was a bit wary of Praxas. It took a lot of persuading and eventually Kolivan had agreed that Shiro should let Praxas take the boys to lunch. Eventually Shiro had agreed, knowing there was a food truck on site and relented. No matter what after their last rounds, they were done and Shiro was ready to take the boys home. Praxas agreed quickly before ushering the boys off to the other end of the range for food.

              Keith didn’t exactly want to go with the strange guy, because he didn’t seem as friendly as Mr. Ulaz or Antok the Giant. However, Keith _was_ really hungry and his daddy trusted the man. So Keith should trust him too, right?

              “Um, Mr. Praxas man? Where’s the food court? This doesn’t look like chili-cheese fries or hamburgers.” Lance frowned, vocalizing Keith’s internal thoughts. Keith nodded, eyes darting nervously around the room, as he reached out and clutched Lance’s hand. Thankfully, Lance made no comment but held on tightly.

              It looked like they were in another shooting range room and when Keith looked around he couldn’t see his daddy or the others anywhere.

              “We’ll get there really soon, but first: how would you boys like to shoot your very first gun ever?” Praxas asked before stopping in front of an empty stall with a loaded glock sitting on the block. Keith and Lance swallowed before sharing a look and staring at Praxas.

              “We can’t shoot a gun. Daddy Shiro and Mister Ulaz said so.” Lance argued. Praxas snorted and waved his hand.

              “It’s okay. Shiro saw how well behaved you both were and decided that you two _could_ shoot. Besides, don’t you want to – I mean you both know how, right?” Praxas brought the boys over to the block before picking up the loaded gun and making sure the safety was now off. Keith warily eyed the gun and shuffled closer to Lance.

              “Daddy never told me that.” Keith argued with a deep pout.

              “That’s because Shiro was busy shooting. He had to concentrate.” Praxas said easily and Keith frowned. That part could be true, daddy needed to concentrate a lot while he was here so Keith had kept extra quiet. _Still…_

              “C’mon now, don’t tell me you both are chickening out.” Praxas laughed, and it sent shivers down Keith and Lance’s spines. It wasn’t a sweet and happy laughter like Shiro or even a warm laugh like Kolivan and Ulaz. “Didn’t you both say that you _wanted_ to shoot a _real_ gun like _real_ men?”

              “Well yeah…” Lance trailed off with a frown before eyeing Praxas. “Are you _sure_ that this is okay?” Lance asked and one of Praxas’ eyes twitched. Keith blinked.

              “Of course, it is! I wouldn’t have brought you here if it wasn’t!” Praxas said tightly and laughed again.

              “Then why’d you tell daddy we were getting lunch?” Keith asked suspiciously.

              “Because we are! After this.” Praxas said through clenched teeth. “It was supposed to be a surprise that you boys would get to shoot afterwards but they wanted me to do it now! So I said we were going to lunch so you boys wouldn’t ruin the surprise.”

              Keith and Lance were still both suspicious and unmoving even as Praxas began to push the gun into Keith’s hands.

              “Think about it Keith. If you knew how to shoot like your daddy, then you could protect him, just like he protects you? Right?” Praxas said softly and Keith’s eyes widened. “If you practiced just like your daddy, then you would know how to protect your daddy with a gun instead of him worrying about you. Wouldn’t you?” Praxas asked again and Keith swallowed. He looked over at Lance, noticing the surprised look in Lance’s face also.

              _He could protect his daddy._

_He wouldn’t have to worry about it being dangerous or worrying his daddy._

_He could keep his daddy safe._

“Lance…”

              “You’ll be like a real cop like when we use our space guns! You’ll be great.” Lance smiled brightly at Keith who managed a soft smile back. “We’ll be like real protectors.”

              “Yes, just like your daddy, Keith.” Praxas grinned and angled Keith towards the shooting range.

              Keith frowned at the weight of the gun in his hand. It was much, _much_ heavier than the space guns that he and Lance normally too. Much, much heavier. Keith felt his arms straining to keep the gun up and his palms felt sweaty.

              “Just imagine that it’s like an alien and we’re hunting it!” Lance encourage from _right beside_ Keith. Praxas stood behind the two, not once bothering to help out Keith who blinked at the target. It seemed so much farther away now than when he was with his daddy.

              “You know what to do Keith, just remember what your daddy told you and what he did. Then pull the trigger.”

              The gun was really heavy.

              And Keith’s heart was pounding.

              _BANG!_

              Keith and Lance both screamed when the gun went off and Keith was thrown backwards on the flood from impact. Before falling, he felt the butt of the gun had smashed into his safety glasses and cracked the plastic. The gun slipped out of Keith’s hand when he fell back onto the hard ground with an _oof!_

              Lance fell back after Keith and found himself sprawled right beside Keith while Praxas snatched up the gun and tried to help them up. The three of them barely heard all the commotion all around them as people came running in and missed when Shiro and the others burst into the new room.

              “Oh my god. Oh my god, Keith? Keith are you okay? Oh my god, that was so loud! Oh my god and it was so much power. Oh my god. Oh my god. Keith?” Lance scrambled to his feet, ignoring his bruised back to help Keith onto his bottom. Keith sat in a dazed, broken safety goggles falling off along with his ear muffs and ear plugs.

              “What the _hell_ happened here?!” Keith snapped out of his daze at his daddy’s sudden shout and he and Lance jumped up. All it took was just one small glance at his daddy, to see the fear and worry in Shiro’s eyes before Keith had burst into tears. All of the fear and horror he had just experience came through to him all at once. Normally, Keith _hated_ crying in front of anyone who wasn’t his daddy but right now none of that mattered.

              Nothing did expect that Shiro was scared too.

              “Keith, oh Keith. What happened? Are you hurt? Are you okay?” Shiro was quick to kneel at Keith’s side before scooping the bawling boy up into his arms. Lance nervously shifted around at the side, feeling tears bubbling in his eyes. He wasn’t used to Keith’s tears and the whole scary ordeal was making him a bit upset too.

              Shiro quickly checked Keith over for any bullet holes, cuts or bruises, fearing that he was going to find a patch of red in Keith and a gaping hole. _I knew it was too dangerous to come to here with Keith! I knew that he would be in trouble! I knew this was a bad idea!_

              “What happened?” Shiro asked again, over the sounds of Keith’s cries before cuddling Keith close to him. Instantly, Keith latched onto Shiro’s shirt before burying his face into the shirt.

              “Um, well, Keith was shooting a gun, at a um target and um, it was so loud and big and it hit Keith in the face and he fell and then I fell.” Lance explained nervously, wringing his hands together. Shiro blinked several times, mouth dropping in surprise while Keith continued to bawl. _Keith had a gun in his hand?_

              “Why on Earth did you boys have a gun in your hand?!”

              “Mister Praxas said we could!” Lance finally cried out, tears pouring down his dirty face and Shiro instantly felt guilty for yelling at the kid. Shiro felt his heart drop. “M-Mister P-Praxas gave Keith the g-gun and said that y-you said we could! We didn’t do it otherwise I-I promise!” Lance sniffled and Shiro’s heart broke into a hundred tiny pieces.

              _I trusted him. I trusted him after all these years. I let someone into my family and almost hurt my son and my Lance. I let him in and Keith and Lance almost paid the price for it._

              Shiro’s mind was slowly shutting off and all his thoughts were stopping before he zeroed in on Praxas who was trying to maneuver past everyone during the commotion. Thankfully, Antok and Kolivan stopped the smaller man, glaring him down with looks so sharp that they could cut a man. Shiro smiled wobbly at the two while Ulaz nodded towards him.

              “You take care of the boys. They need you more than anyone right now. We’ve got this.” Ulaz said tensely, eyes shadowed with darkness. Shiro remembered what Ulaz and the others were capable of, back in their old special units. He knew what they could do to a man – what they _would_ do to protect Shiro and his family.

              “Don’t worry you’ll have a shot at him.” Kolivan promised and Shiro nodded his thanks before sweeping Lance up into his arms and leaving the building.

              Lance and Keith both clung to one another and to Shiro’s shirt. Their cries had softened and Shiro sat down as he rocked them both, waiting until they had finished. Keith and Lance miserably looked up at Shiro with red eyes, causing Shiro’s heart to squeeze shut.

              “We’re sorry daddy.” Keith croaked and Lance nodded.

              “Shh, shh. It wasn’t either of your faults.” Shiro said softly and brushed back their hair. Keith sniffled before smushing his cheek against Shiro’s while Lance leaned back. “I’m not mad at either of you at all. I’m so sorry that I let this happen to you both and I was just so scared that something had happened to you Keith. I was so scared.”

              “I’m sorry daddy. It was scary.” Keith admitted quietly and Shiro cooed again.

              “It’s okay. It’s okay, as long as you both are safe.” Shiro said softly. “But…”

              “Yes daddy?”

              “Keith Akira Shirogane _the first_ you are grounded until your 50!”

              “Daddy!”

              “Mr. Shiro!”

              “And you Lance, you’re grounded until you’re 50 too.”

              “Mr. Shiro, nooooo!”

              “Daddy, maybe we can nego-mi-ate?”

              “Negotiate? Hm, I can consider dropping it until 45.”

              “30?”

              “35.”

              “Daddy? You’re silly.” Keith huffed, causing Lance to giggle and Shiro finally could breathe a sigh of relief. He knew that he would have to deal with Praxas one day soon, but for now, all that mattered was that Keith and Lance were safe. _Safe, happy and healthy._


End file.
